


As Selfish As They Are Selfless

by seoulsunset



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fairy, Heavy Angst, Minor Chou Tzuyu/Park Jisoo | Jihyo, Mythical Beings & Creatures, One Shot, Sad, Sad Ending, fairy mina, human jihyo, just lot of angst, mihyo, mihyo angst, this is just sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:40:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24001474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seoulsunset/pseuds/seoulsunset
Summary: Fairy Mina has promised Jihyo one wish she could claim in this lifetime. After a terrible accident, Jihyo runs back to Mina to finally claim her wish.She just didn't expect the fairy to have a wish of her own.Whose wish would be granted in the end? And whose heart will make it out of the forest unbroken?
Relationships: Myoui Mina/Park Jisoo | Jihyo
Kudos: 20





	As Selfish As They Are Selfless

**Author's Note:**

> This is just angst. My jihyo moots prompted me to write mihyo angst and here it is. I hope you like it.

“Mina!” Jihyo yelled, her loud voice ringing throughout the entire forest. Leaves shook from the branches of the trees from the intensity of Jihyo’s voice. “Mina, please show yourself to me right now!”

There was more rustling. Jihyo was diving deeper into the forest, yelling one name as she screamed and ran frantically. “Mina, please, I’m begging you!”

And that’s when Jihyo felt it.

The winds suddenly picked up speed around her. The mountains of fallen leaves circling just beside her, near a gigantic and centuries old tree. Jihyo barely had enough time to cover her eyes, before a blinding light manifested itself on that very tree.

Jihyo took a deep breathe before lowering her forearms that covered her eyes, gulping as she came in to view with the very person she was looking for. “Mina.”

Mina was still as beautiful as ever.

The forest fairy was immortal, with a beauty that shall never fade. Her gorgeous face was adorned by a flower crown made from flowers that Jihyo didn’t even know existed. Her attire, a royal blue one shouldered long dress fell loosely, giving her the perfect image of a fairy.

She was everything children’s books and bedtime stories pictured, and yet not enough words could ever encapsulate her ethereal beauty.

“Jihyo.” Mina acknowledged the dishevelled girl, running around the forest for her.

“Mina,” Jihyo sobbed, uncaring of how she looked, of how much of a mess she was from running, from yelling, or from crying. “Mina, I need your help.”

The corner of Mina’s lips quirked upwards humourlessly, “Don’t you now?”

“I’m sorry,” Jihyo apologized sincerely, “I’m sorry that we have to meet again this way.”

“No worries, my flower,” Mina said as she inched closer to the sobbing girl. “I told you that if you ever needed me, that I shall be here right?”

Jihyo only sobbed, and it was Mina’s cue to open her arms. Oh how selfish the human was, to do this to the only creature in the world to love her eternally.

“Mina, I need you. I don’t know what to do.” Jihyo ran to the open arms waiting for her, only a tiny bit apologetic for messing up her gorgeous dress.

“Shh,” The fairy tried to calm the woman down, “Tell me what’s the matter, beautiful.”

Jihyo pulled away to be able to look at Mina’s eyes. The human’s big doe eyes held all the knowledge that Mina needed to know — the apprehension, the sadness, the helplessness.

“It’s Tzuyu.”

Mina has lived for more than a thousand years, she has mastered the art of schooling her facial expressions. Physically, her face barely reacted to that name.

But the pain in her heart never lessened.

The pain was still as excruciating, almost blinding, to hear another person’s name fall from Jihyo’s beautiful lips.

And Jihyo could only look down, aware of how much it must hurt for Mina to hear those words.

“What about her?” If Mina couldn’t utter the other girl’s name, then no one could really blame her.

“Mina, do you remember when I was younger? Remember when you told me that I could have one wish in this life, and you’d grant that for me?” Jihyo’s eyes pleaded, her tone absolutely desperate.

“Of course.” Mina gulped, she knew exactly what was going to come next. “I made that promise to you after all.”

“Mina, I might need to use that now.” Jihyo would have gone down on her knees if Mina wanted, but she settled for clasping the fairy’s hands on her own palms instead. “I need to make a wish.”

“Hold on,” If Mina had a human heart, it would be be beating quicker than what would be deemed normal. “Be careful of your next words, Jihyo.”

Jihyo took a deep breath, or two. She calmed herself before looking Mina in the eye once again. “Please, Mina. I need you to grant me a wish.”

Despite being one of the most powerful fairies, Mina still possessed a few human qualities. One of them being selfishness. Proven when she decided to prolong her time with Jihyo. “Why don’t you tell me what happened first?”

“It’s Tzuyu.” Jihyo forced herself to speak. It was never a secret of how easily she cried, so it was unsurprising when tears began to fall down her cheeks freely. “She got into an accident.”

“Of what sort?” Mina schooled her expression.

“She was on her way to pick me up from work. She knew that it was our date night.” Jihyo choked out, oblivious to the streak of excruciating pain Mina felt in her heart. “But a drunk driver crashed into her when she was crossing the street. She’s fighting for her life right now, Mina.”

Jihyo’s sobs were deafening, that Mina had to clench her jaw to stop her own tears from falling. Jihyo looked absolutely broken, completely devastated.

“I-I can’t lose her, Mina.” Jihyo wept. “She can’t leave me like this.”

“So I’m assuming that you want me to save her life?” Mina exhaled through the ache in her chest.

“Yes, but,” Jihyo gulped before she looked straight into the beautiful fairy’s hardening eyes. “I want you to save her unborn child too.”

Mina gasped, completely bewildered at the news. But Jihyo’s eyes only remained apologetic, trying to mask the apprehension buried deep within. “You wish for me not just to save your lover, but also a child that isn’t yours?”

Jihyo breathed a shaky exhale, guilt gnawing into every inch of her heart. Jihyo was smart after all, she knew how much it hurt Mina to do this for her.

Especially since she was Mina’s past lover.

But Jihyo was human for a reason. She was smart, as she was selfish. She was none the wiser, but equally selfless.

“Yes Mina,” Jihyo wept for the fairy’s nonexistent heart that she knew she was breaking. “Please save my girls.”

“Do you hear yourself, Jihyo?” Mina scoffed, unable to stop the anger from showing. “I can understand if you wish for me to save her, but you also wish to save a child that doesn’t carry your blood?”

“I don’t care how it sounds, Mina.” Jihyo said firmly, her eyes resolute. “In my mind and in my heart, that child is mine as much as it is Tzuyu’s.”

Mina breathed out both in disbelief and in awe. How can one person be this selfless? How can one person be this stupid? How can one person’s heart hold this much love for someone else?

And why couldn’t it all be for Mina?

“Think about your words, Jihyo.” Mina reminded her, trying to stop her own tears from falling.

“I know what I want Mina, and I’m absolutely sorry that I am hurting you this way.” Jihyo’s voice turned shaky as she tried to stop her self from pouring out all her sadness and guilt.

“But I love Tzuyu and our daughter so much.” Jihyo spoke with nothing but honesty, yet her eyes remained apologetic as it swam with guilt. “Tzuyu’s the only woman I know who’s worth having at all cost. The only woman who’s worth fighting any battlefield.”

This time, neither Mina nor Jihyo was able to stop their tears from falling.

“She’s the only woman I know who’s worth praying to any god out there.” Jihyo held Mina’s hands as tight as she could. “Or to any fairy to grant me a single wish.”

During the night, bats would surround the forest. Lining the inside of the caves, the bats’ hearing being their greatest sense in the dark cavern of trees and rocks.

Perhaps it was a good thing then, that it was currently broad daylight, and there were no bats in sight. For maybe, if they listen real close, they would be able to hear the sound of two hearts breaking.

Of a human’s heart wrenching in sadness and guilt, and one of a fairy’s who only yearned for a human to be hers.

“Why,” Mina sobbed lightly. “Why could you never love me that much?”

“W-what?” Jihyo looked up to her inquisitively.

“Why do you always choose someone else?” Mina was unable to stop her emotions, they were freely flowing out of her like a dam. “Why can it never be me?”

“I-I,” Jihyo’s brows furrowed in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“Of course you don’t,” Mina’s lips quirked into an empty smile. “Because you never remember.”

“What?” Jihyo asked.

But Mina only shook her head. Cupping Jihyo’s face into her palms, holding the human close to her, the fairy carefully chose her next words.

“What if I offer you something else, my flower?”

Jihyo’s hands rose to enclose the hands holding her cheeks, a look of confusion occupying her beautiful features. “What do you mean, Mina?”

It was in moments like these when Mina remembered, that she could be the oldest and most beautiful fairy in all the lands of the earth, but her heart would still be tinged with the ugliness of humanity.

She was still as selfish as a human person.

“Choose me, my flower.” It was Mina’s turn to plead. “I know you have left me years ago. But my heart is still only yours, and if you’ll have me, we could be together.”

“Mina,” Jihyo’s heartbeat quickened as she tried to escape Mina’s grasp, only for the fairy to hold her tighter.

“Listen to me, Jihyo.” Mina almost begged. “Stay here with me in the forest. I could grant you immortality if you would swear your life to me. I can make you happy here.”

“B-but Tzuyu,” Jihyo’s eyes were beginning to panic. “And our child, I-I can’t—“

“I’ll heal them.” Mina swore. “I swear that they shall live. But you, my beautiful flower. You could stay with me, where you shall never worry about your human concerns again. I will even grant you lover and her child a prosperous life, they’d swim in riches, if you would swear to stay with me.”

“But what,” Jihyo didn’t know exactly what to say. “If I stay w-with you, what about Tzuyu?”

“And what about her?” Mina huffed. “She’ll live with her child. Yes she may be devastated with losing you for a while, but she’ll live. And you’ll be with me here, protecting this forest, for eternity.”

Jihyo would admit. The offer was tempting.

If Mina would grant Tzuyu and their child a prosperous life, they would never have to worry about something as mundane as bills ever again. The very bills that Jihyo and Tzuyu were struggling to pay everyday.

They’d never have to worry about putting food in their table every night, of putting a roof above their family’s head, about choosing to walk instead of riding a taxi, so that maybe accidents like these could never happen.

“So what do you say, my flower?” Mina tried to dampen the hope when she saw a spark of surrender in Jihyo’s doe eyes. “Would you stay here with me, in exchange of your lover and child’s life that shall be filled with everything and anything this world has to offer.”

Jihyo had to bite her tongue, because she swore she almost said a three letter word that would dictate her and her family’s life.

If only the sunlight didn’t shine directly on top of the golden band on her ring finger.

“I,” Jihyo breathed out as her eyes shone with a fresh wave of tears. “I can’t.”

_‘To have and to hold, ‘til death do us apart.’_

Jihyo could still hear the absolute joy and glee in Tzuyu’s voice, when she spoke her vows a little less than six months ago.

Tzuyu was two month’s pregnant then, from a drunken one night stand when Jihyo and her momentarily broke up.

The younger girl then thought it was over, that she had lost Jihyo forever when they found out she was pregnant. But she was completely surprised when Jihyo still accepted her, and even chose to marry her despite carrying a child that wasn’t hers.

 _‘Thank you for still loving me, Jihyo-unnie,’_ Tzuyu sobbed after the wedding. _‘Please never leave me, we’ll get through anything and everything together. As long as there’s you and me.’_

**You & Me.**

If Jihyo accepted Mina’s offer, she would be breaking her promise to her wife.

“I’m sorry, Mina.” Jihyo wept, and this time, it was not for herself, but for the fairy who deserved all the love that Jihyo had failed to give. “I can’t leave my wife.”

‘Ah, that’s right,’ Mina thought. ‘I had forgotten that she married her.’

Although it has happened before, the pain of Jihyo still not choosing her, never hurt any less.

Mina may not have a physical heart, but the pain she felt almost made her believe that something was present in the core of her chest, that something was indeed falling apart.

“I see.” Mina said stoically, but the way her beautiful eyes shined with diamond tears spoke volumes of the immense sadness she felt. “Then you shall have your wish.”

“Please forgive me, Mina.” Jihyo begged, the broken look on the fairy’s eyes greatly broke her own heart for the woman she once loved. “I’m sorry that I have hurt you like this.”

But Mina only ran her fingers through the human’s cropped hair, “It’s not like it’s the first time, Jihyo.”

“What?” Jihyo asked confusingly. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing.” Mina smiled brokenly. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Still Mina,” Jihyo was still so sorry that she couldn’t give Mina what she wanted. “You deserve more than this, I’m sorry that loving me has caused you to hurt this much.”

“Nonsense, my flower.” Mina spoke through her own tears. If only Jihyo knew the true pain she had gone through from loving her. But even until the end, Mina only remembered all their good times.

“The pain of losing you, my flower, is nothing compared to the joy of having you.”

Jihyo released a heart wrenching sob once again, the pain in heart incomparable to any pain she has ever felt. “I’m so sorry.”

“Enough, my flower.” Mina shook her head as she took a step back from the woman she loved, or still loves, and will forever love. “It seems like you have made up your mind.”

“Forgive me, Mina.”

“But you have to know, Jihyo,” Mina spoke as her eyes became distant. “That once you make your wish, you’ll never see me again.”

“What?” Jihyo gasped out. “W-what, why?”

“For once a fairy has served their purpose to a human, which is to grant you a wish,” Mina admitted, “Then there shall no longer be a reason for the human and fairy to be connected.”

“N-no!” Jihyo exclaimed. “There has to be another way! I don’t want to lose you too.”

“It’s for the best, my flower.” Mina forced herself to speak. “I also could not bare to wait for you knowing that you’ll never choose me in this lifetime too.”

Jihyo’s eyes saddened at that, her lips quivered in a pathetic attempt to hold back her cries. “I-I just don’t want to lose you, my fairy.”

“If you have loved me in at least one point in your life, Jihyo, then please be selfless enough to let me go.” Mina almost begged, for every moment with her love just brings her a new wave of resounding pain. “The same way that I am letting you go right now.”

“Mina,” Jihyo choked out as she sobbed in the middle of the forest. Why was she so pathetic to only keep on crying endlessly?

“My beautiful flower,” Mina smiled through the tears, feeling the entire forest weep with her, “I believe it’s time for us to be selfless, and to finally let each other go.”

Mina and Jihyo could only allow another set of tears to flow freely, before they stood upright. Mina inched closer to her flower, holding her in her arms one last time.

“When I let you go, my flower, you have to make your wish.” Mina whispered beside Jihyo’s ear as both of them wept. “Close your eyes and say your wish as clear as you can. When you open your eyes, and I’m no longer here, rest assured that your wish shall come true.”

“M-mina, I’m so sorry.” Jihyo held unto the fairy tighter, clutching her first love in her arms as tight as she can for the very last time. “I hope that one day we could see each other again.”

Mina then pulled away, with a smile that hinted that she knew something Jihyo doesn’t. “Maybe in your next lifetime, my flower.”

“Wait for me then,” Jihyo spoke honestly. “We shall meet each other again in my next one.”

It’s funny how Jihyo still doesn’t know the meaning of her words.

Before pulling away, Mina dropped one last kiss to the human’s forehead, getting one in return from the smaller human on her own cheek. The fairy then took several steps backwards, before smiling one last time at the beautiful human.

“I love you, my flower.”

Jihyo knew that this time, she couldn’t run back to Mina’s arms ever again.

“And I love you too, my fairy.”

The leaves rustled again, the speed of the wind around them quickening.

“Thank you for loving me so much, Mina.”

“It was my greatest honor to love you in this lifetime, Jihyo.”

A circle of leaves suddenly surrounded the beautiful fairy, and Jihyo swore that she embedded the fairy’s face in her mind in that last moment. The last image of a weeping, yet still effortlessly beautiful, selfless fairy.

“Make your wish, my flower.”

The winds quickened again, making it hard for Jihyo to stand upright. But she held her ground as she uttered the words.

“I wish that Tzuyu and her unborn daughter would make it through unharmed from this accident. I wish for them to be safe and sound.”

And when another blinding light surrounded the forest, the last thing Jihyo heard was Mina’s soft voice in the air.

“Live well, my flower. Thank you for loving me l in this lifetime too.”

And when Jihyo opened her eyes, she was left alone, with nothing but a mountain of leaves left on the spot Mina once stood on.

“My fairy,” Jihyo whispered to the air. “It was an honor to love you too.”

Jihyo might not know this, but as she ran back to the city and away from the forest, the eternal fairy watched her, ensuring that no harm comes her way.

The scene of Jihyo running away from her home was nothing new, but it still hurt as much as it did from all those lifetimes ago.

Of all those lifetimes that Jihyo met Mina.

Of al those lifetimes Mina granted Jihyo her wishes.

Of when Jihyo was a princess who wished that she and her maiden would be free to live happily away from the palace, so that they can love each other freely.

Of when Jihyo was a dressmaker, and wished that she had a carriage, so that she and her lover could run away from the village that judged the two women in love.

Of when Jihyo was a soldier, who accidentally shot her lover, wishing her to regain her life and live by her side in full health, until time ran its full course.

Of all those other lifetimes that always ended in Jihyo running away from her forest.

Of all those lifetimes Mina made the same offer of eternity to her flower.

Of all the lifetimes Jihyo didn’t choose Mina.

And it seemed like this time, Jihyo was a preschool teacher, who wished that her wife and unborn child shall be saved from a terrible accident.

Mina could only wonder what the next lifetime awaits her.

 _‘Maybe in the next one, my flower.’_ Mina whispered to herself, as she saw her beloved finally leave her realm, seeing this lifetime’s Jihyo one last time.

Mina silently wonders how many years, or maybe centuries, would it take before she meets Jihyo again.

It doesn’t matter, she would still wait for her flower again, and again, and again.

_“Maybe in your next lifetime, you’ll finally choose me.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading. Your comments are more than welcome, so if you have one please do leave me a comment. Also I am on [twitter](https://twitter.com/girlslikemono) so please follow me there. And love, if it's alright, maybe you could also spare me a [ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/girlslikemono), it would mean a lot to me and I would be more than grateful to you! Once again, thank you all so much for reading, I love you so so much.


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